An independent scientist’s observations on society, technology, energy, science and the environment. “Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.” – Carl Sagan

Tilting at Windmills? Not in my backyard.

“It just makes sense,” said Mercurio, who is 61 and runs a company selling and installing windmills. “This is a clean, renewable source of energy.”

Some of his neighbors say it is also annoying. They say it is too big. They say it is too noisy. And some residents in this middle-class borough have gone to court to try to make him take it down, while the township has halted it since winter, setting up a collision between the ideals of alternative energy and the suburban reality of a notorious not-in-my-backyard culture.

Well, there you go. Would the neighbours prefer he built a coal burner in the backyard?

Personally, the best solution for everyone would probably be, hypothetically, if we went built something like, lets say, an Adams Engine in the backyard.

Not as much of an eyesore, just like any other large garage, and it could perhaps supply the whole neighbourhood’s electricity, depending on how big it is! The neighbours have got to be a clear winner here!